Are You Dave?

It’s summer in Hoboken, and that can only mean one thing: The Gordys are on the loose! That’s right, the Mile-Square City’s hottest Klezmer outfit did its thing again this year at Sinatra Park, and as always, it was a blast. It was a gorgeous night, featuring a lovely moonrise over our Manhattan backdrop. Big thanks to Geri Fallo, Tom Sweeney and sound-guy Chris “Gibby” Gibson.”

This year’s Gordy line-up featured:
Dave Lambert, guitars, mandolin, vocals, percussion and harmonica
Howard Olah-Reiken, guitars and vocals
Pamela Strell, vocals and percussion
Adam Laden, guitars, mandolin, vocals and woodwinds
Barbara Arnett, accordion
Rob Harari, keyboards, vocals and percussion
Joe Harari, drums, vocals
Justin Michael, bass guitar
And two special guests:
Donna Coney Island, vocals
Gordy Haas, vocals and guitar

That’s right, Gordy himself, after whom the band was named, made his stage debut with us tonight! He rocked that Bon Jovi country tune, “Who Says You Can’t Go Home?” And the hilarious and talented (and patient) Donna Coney Island stepped in on several tunes, notably “Time Warp” and “We Got The Beat.”

Also, the night featured some VERY special guests, as the Gordys: The Next Generation took the stage. Rob, Howard, Adam and Barbara’s kids all came up to sing that inescapable Train song, “Hey Soul Sister,” and they did a heck of a job.

We even got asked to do an encore! Stunned, we stumbled our way through “Angel from Montgomery” to the delight of the synagogue crowd. Then we went to the bar at 10th and Willow for afters, already planning the set list for next year’s show.

The photos on this page are by Joe Epstein. Bill Benzon also took some great shots of the night, you can see them here.

-- Weather When Posted --

• Temperature: 81°F;
• Humidity: 54%;
• Heat Index: 82°F;
• Wind Chill: 81°F;
• Pressure: 30 in.;

Ah, the legendary annual Shipyard concert. I won’t bother repeating a lot about how great these shows are; you can read last year’s entry and get a good idea of the crowd and the energy.

This year there were a few minor differences. First of all, Hoboken had managed to go a year without any more arrests at City Hall, so there was no politicking. Also, I’d had a great meeting with Sibel, the wonderful lady who runs the local Ben & Jerry’s, and she was sponsoring the event and selling ice cream over by the fountain. Let’s see, what else happened that was different from last year… oh yeah… We got rained out midway through!

That’s right, for once the weather people got it right. The sound crew, Randy and Tom, arrived at the Shipyard and started setting up gear, so we figured Geri had decided the threat of rain was minimal. Kipley was pretty sure it was going to rain halfway through our set and he was dead right (as he pointed out more than once during the hurried tear-down afterwards). Oh well. We went for it, put on a great 30-minute show, then spent an hour back at the studio, toweling off our gear.

Joe Epstein got some great shots of us before the skies opened up. Thanks Joe!

For those of you keeping track, this was my 4th concert and 4th band in a 3-week span. I’m even getting paid for two or three of them! I love being a professional musician. 

Anyway…

Erin Lee Kelly and Marci Applebaum made their triumphant return to Hoboken tonight as part of the family concert series at the Shipyard. Last year they got rained out (and their visit to the Art & Music Festival was pretty damp as well) so everyone was thrilled when the rain decided to give ‘em a break.

I honestly don’t remember when, exactly, Erin Lee invited me to sit in with them again. It just sort of happened organically—it’s been on my calendar since April. But as the date got closer, Erin Lee and Marci were on tour and I was too busy preparing for recording and other gigs. I started to feel bad that I was neglecting the two of three songs they’d invited me to play. But the beauty of their material is: It’s deceptively simple. Wonderful melodies, rich harmonies, clever lyrics… and underneath it all, a comfy musical pocket for me to sit in with my banjo and mandolin. 

Tom Sweeney and Chris The Sound Guy showed up at 5:00 and got set up, while I sat on the stage steps with the band and ran through our three numbers. The two songs I’d done with them last fall came back in a flash, and the third was an easy addition. We ran a sound-check, and with only three voices and three instruments to check we were done before 6:00! So we puttered around, I grabbed dinner, and we watched the lawn slowly fill up with Hoboken’s wee music lovers. 

By the time Erin Lee and Marci started at 7:00 there was a sizeable and enthusiastic crowd, throwing around fee beach balls courtesy of NY Waterway Ferry.

Erin Lee and Marci have really honed their act; they keep up a steady stream of banter with the crowd and with each other, between and even during their songs. The Fuzzy Lemons would do well to borrow a page from their book, and indeed we’ve been working on that whole between-song thing at rehearsals. They cracked me up several times (when I wasn’t too busy helping with crowd control. Oh the beach balls!)

It was a treat to jump on stage and play banjo and mandolin with them; my confidence (if not actual skill) with both instruments has skyrocketed since the last time I tried. I even took solos with both instruments! 

As always, it was over too quickly. I had to pack up my stuff and jump in a cab to head for Fuzzy Lemons rehearsal! I look forward to the next time I can hang, and jam, with these two awesome performers. 

Tomorrow night, The Fuzzy Lemons at Church Square Park!

~Dave 

[Concert number three, band number three...]

Once again, the Gordys dodged bad weather and slogged through last-minute rehearsals to pull another delightful sunset show out of our collective hats. This year’s line-up:

• Howard Olah-Reiken: electric and acoustic guitar, vocals
• Adam Laden: acoustic guitar, mandolin, clarinet, saxophone and vocals
• Pamela Strell: vocals and percussion
• Rob Harari: keyboards, percussion and vocals
• Dave Lambert: electric and acoustic guitars, banjo, vocals
• Barbara Arnett: Accordion
• Justin Michael: Bass
• Joe Harari: Drums and vocals

We were pleased to welcome Rob’s teenage son Joe to the fold, and even more excited when he took lead vocals on a song, “Pizza Day” by the Aquabats.

It was another magical night, once we waded through our first few warm-up numbers. Every year, once the sun goes down and we get the audience revved up with the Klezmer set, it really lives up to the title of a “Summer Enchanted Evening.”

Hats off as always to Randy Taber and Tom Sweeney, and to Geri Fallo and Wendy Setzer for their hilarious performance. Every year they outdo themselves. Watch this space for photos, I hope…

Wow, what a show! What a crowd! What a band! Everything I love about playing music came together last night. Which is not to say we played a flawless show–far from it. There were minor technical issues and I KNOW I made some tragic gaffes on the guitar. But the band’s energy was amped up so high that we barreled right through all of it and kept the crowd dancing the entire hour.

I have to say that it was an amazing sight to see an ocean of people on the lawn; in fact there wasn’t a bare patch of grass exposed anywhere. The place was wall-to-wall kids, and yet (with the exception of one “lost child!” alert, quickly resolved) I didn’t see any wailing, shoving, or anything, just shiny little faces bopping in the evening light.

There’s always a mob right up at the front of the stage, kids clambering over equipment and one another to be closer to the band, but even that mad crush didn’t turn ugly. In fact it was cute as can be, and no one touched our mic stands, which meant none of the Lemons got knocked in the teeth by microphones. Bonus.

It was a bit of a landmark night for the town of Hoboken, in the wake of the recent political shake-up (our mayor got arrested and then resigned recently). Geri Fallo seemed even bubblier than usual as she announced the new acting mayor’s name in public for the first time, eliciting a huge cheer from the gathered throng. I think the enormous energy of the crowd had us all feeling pumped before we even started the show. In addition, we just finished an intense week in the studio and these days we’re feeling pretty darn good about ourselves musically.

Right as we launched into our first song, “Let’s Be Nice to Monsters,” the PA let out a gawd-awful crackle. It interrupted Kipley just as he was about to start his little into monologue. I looked over at him and he had a huge grin, like he was slightly concerned about the technical issue but it wasn’t going to stop him for a second, and he powered on, never losing the grin. (He later told us that he’s never played one of these shows WITHOUT a technical issue, so he just expects it.) I took my cue from that and played my heart out, and I think everyone else did too.

Which brings me to Randy Taber, who has been doing sound lately for Geri (we first met him at Kiddiepalooza in June). First of all, he and Sweeney arrived at, like, 5:15 (as opposed to their usual 6:00) which gave us GOBS of time to set up and run soundchecks before the show. Then, when we had the issue with the cable crackling, he jumped up on stage and corrected the problem lickety-split. He’s been a tour manager for Pink Floyd cover band The Machine, he teaches sound engineering at William Patterson University, he’s run sound for the Wetlands and B.B. King’s in NYC, and we’re lucky to have him.

Randy’s the reason we felt so good about our performance: Like Dave Entwistle, he makes darn sure we’re getting a great monitor mix and that we’re able to hear ourselves and each other. That’s the key to a great show (the downside is, when I make a goof on the guitar, I can hear it clear as a bell). If we’re struggling on stage, the audience knows it. That was not the case tonight. We were in sonic heaven and as a result–we ROCKED!

Photos and write up here!

~ Dave

This show marks the beginning of my crazy summer, 5 gigs with 4 bands in 3 weeks, plus 20 hours in the recording studio. And I love it! 

The annual Music Together show (read about last year’s here) is a bit of a departure from the other stuff I find myself doing these days. Whereas the Gordys are a band with lots of regular members who have to learn new material every year, the Music Together gang is an ever-rotating group who all happen to know the same music. And in fact this year we were blessed to not only have Anne and Catherine returning, we were joined by newcomer Kristin Springer as well. Her energy (and love of broadway show tunes) fit right in.

I’m grateful that we got the show together with only two big rehearsals (plus a couple of smaller get-togethers to pick songs and work out harmonies). My colleagues are al fantastic musicians and singers, and man-oh-man can they harmonize. Indeed, try to stop them! So once again we were able to put on a huge show with the simple lineup of four singer and a couple of guitars. We had a wonderfully supportive Shipyard crowd, as always, and the city’s sound crew, Tom and Aaron, did a bang-up job supporting us on the tech side.

Best moment: When I sang the opening notes of “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” and the whole crowd answered back with the next line. That was fun.

From the show I packed up my gear and headed straight to Garden Street Music for a session with the Fuzzy Lemons. I’ll be back on the Shipyard stage with them next week!

~Dave

Wow, what a day! The Lemons just rocked three big fat sets of fun-filled rock on Hoboken’s gorgeous Pier A. Everything came together today: The weather was wonderful (breezy, sunny, not too hot or humid, and the ever-present threat of rain turned out to be nothing), the town’s equipment worked well (kudos to Tom Sweeney and to sound guy Randy—I’ll have to learn his last name sometime) and the crowd was super-enthusiastic.

I wore my cool new tie-dyed shirt that my sister and her family gave me for my birthday: The tie-dye is in the shape of a guitar. It’s the best shirt ever.

We hung out with the Flannery Brothers (I kept wanting to call them the Farrelly Brothers), down from Maine for the weekend to perform at a couple of locales in the NJ/NYC area. They were sweet as pie and very talented (and they complimented us on the party we threw for the kids with our set).

Kipley and Dana related a nice comment they received from a local parent, who said something along the lines of “I figured out why you’re so good: You’re not a kid’s band, you’re a rock band that has kid’s lyrics.” I’ll get the exact quote and use it in our press kit because that’s exactly what we’ve been trying to convey all along. I’m glad folks are figuring it out.

As for our sets, well, I made some mistakes (I learned I cannot walk and play “Hawaii 5-0″ at the same time) but overall we had great energy and barreled through. People commented afterwards on how much fun they had, not the mistakes they heard. But man, do I need to rehearse more.

Back-to-back outdoor shows, can you believe it? As with yesterday’s show in Jersey City, this one took place at a bustling festival, with shade for the band but not for the audience. In this case we were in the gazebo at Church Square Park, and the festival was put on by OLG, the church that gives the park its name.

It was a busy, crowded stage, with Tom Sweeney playing D.J. and M.C. in between the various puppet shows, dancers, bands, and even WCW wrestlers. Tom’s not a sound guy, however, so we lugged our own P.A. in and talked Dave Entwistle into coming back to mix for us once again.

The normally spacious gazebo was suddenly overflowing with gear and personnel: the Fuzzy Lemons, Sweeney, a bunch of people who wanted to make announcements at random moments (seriously, I haven’t been interrupted in the middle of a set this many times since my college band’s drunken frat-house days) and, ultimately, wrestlers.

We rocked it, though, if I do say so myself. Kipley brought his keyboard in addition to his guitar and accordion, adding some wicked cool piano to “Baby Brother Blues.” Every gig sees something new blossom in the Lemons!

As I mentioned recently, I was invited to be part of an all-star concert in celebration of the great Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday. Geri Fallo got some of Hoboken’s top musicians (and me) together to put on the tribute show, which kicks off the town’s Thursday-night summer concert series.

Everyone picked out one or two of their favorite Pete songs, and most of us rehearsed with the Demolition String Band backing us up. Rehearsals sounded great… the night of the show, however, was something else entirely. For starters, it was drizzling, and when I got to Pier A I found Elena and Boo huddled in their car, with no one else around. Concern was expressed.

But lo, Tom Sweeney rolled up shortly in a red “short bus,” which apparently has replaced his familiar white van. He and his sound guy (I didn’t catch his name, but he knew what he was doing) set up the gear in a tearing hurry, only to rip it down again and move it into the gazebo at the end of the pier when Geri showed up, frowning the weather.

Meanwhile, I jawed a bit with Ray Korona, who told a couple of Pete Seeger stories and did a dead-on impression (”Y’know, if we all held hands in a circle around the globe… three-fourths of us would drown”) and with Clarence Ferrari, fiddle player, dad, and all-around nice guy. We sat at the end of the pier and watched the Clearwater, Pete’s famous sloop, motor in and tie up next to the Waterfront Museum.

Before long, the gear was set up in a dry place, and most if not all of the musicians were in place.

The lineup went something like this:
The All-Hoboken Youth Chorus - This Little Light of Mine
The All-Hoboken Youth Chorus - We Shall Overcome
Kate Jacobs and the chorus’ conductors did a fantastic job, leading a group of over 100 kids from every school in Hoboken in two great sing-alongs.
Ray Korona - Toys for Peace (a song he wrote with Pete!)
Jon & Deena (of The Cucumbers) - Kisses Sweeter than Wine
I have been a fan of the Cucumbers for years, and we’ve gotten to the point where we say “hey” at these functions. They have been doing “Kisses Sweeter than Wine” as a gorgeous duet for just about ever.
Dave Lambert - Inch By Inch (The Garden Song)
I pretty much ripped off Arlo Guthrie for this version (I’ve been aping Arlo since I first heard - and memorized - “Alice’s Restaurant” in high school). I can’t come close to his performance, so click here for the real thing. It was fun to see folks in the audience singing along, even the rare anti-garden verse. There were some true folk fans in the crowd!
Dave Lambert - Turn! Turn! Turn!
I got to welcome the Demolition String Band back to the stage - Elena Skye and Boo Reiners on guitars and vocals, Dave Post on stand-up bass, and Clarence Ferrari on fiddle. What a treat to be able to share the stage with this gang; they are, as I introduced them, true keepers of the musical faith in the strongest tradition of Pete Seeger and his ilk. We launched into the Byrds arrangement of “Turn! Turn! Turn!” with me on my Danelectro 12-string and Elena and Boo backing me up with rich, rich harmonies. Thank goodness they’d brought music stands - Pete Seeger songs tend to have lots of verses. When we got to the solo, I liked what I heard coming from Clarence and his fiddle so much that I gave him a nod and he launched right in; I picked up the solo in the 12-string for the 2nd half. Every now and then I am privy to those moments of musical telepathy, when two players can wordlessly go somewhere together. Playing with folks like the Demolition String Band, who have music rolling through their veins, makes moments like that much more likely!
Kate Jacobs - Goodnight Irene
Kate has such a sweet, simple voice, it’s actually hard to describe. She’s not a belter or a warbler, she just sings clearly and cleanly, with an incredible emotional impact. The entire audience joined in on harmonies, to glorious effect.
Abbe Rivers - Mary Don’t you Weep
Abbe Rivers - Jacob’s Ladder
Abbe is a wonderful counterpoint to Kate Jacobs: bold, brassy, and no-holds-barred. We all rocked along to her two songs, swaying to the full drunken-gospel feel.

Unfortunately, I had to take off at this point. But here’s what I missed (sadly):
Gene D. Plumber - Joe Hill
Gene D. Plumber (with his daughter and special guest Perry Robinson) - Guantanamera
Boo Rieners - Talking Union
Boo Reiners - Michael Row Your Boat Ashore
Elena Skye - Little Boxes
Elena Skye - Which Side Are You On?
Eddie Fogarty - John Henry
Annalee Van Kleeck - Where Have All the Flowers Gone? (She couldn’t make it, see her comment to this blog)
Dave Calamoneri - Bring ‘em Home
group finale - If I had a Hammer & This Land is Your Land

I can only imagine that the rest of the night was as magical! I sent some thank-you notes afterwards, and got nice replies from Boo and Elena. Next up, I have a Woody Guthrie project in mind that they’d be perfect for; watch this space for details!

Here’s a photo of the night from my cell phone:

This is the first of several entries about the Arts & Music festival. I was on the stage the entire day, but no one wants to wade through that much text so I’ll break it up into three postings.

The day dawned grey and wet. The entire weekend had been pretty much a wash, but remained positive that the skies would clear in time for Sunday’s event. Even as we rehearsed at Lisa’s on Friday, listening to the rain, I assured everyone that Sunday would be great. After all, (a) the weather was ALWAYS wonderful for the Arts & Music Festival, and (b) I was the MC for the 3rd Street Children’s Stage, and so things just HAD to be good.

It was positively pouring when Lisa picked me up Sunday morning at 10:45. I said some unsavory things under my breath as I loaded her car. It took me three trips, not because I had a lot of swearing to do but because I had three back-to-back gigs and needed to bring the proper gear for each one: acoustic guitar and banjo for Music Together, banjo and mandolin for Erin Lee & Marci, and mandolin and electric guitar for The Fuzzy Lemons. Of course each gig required its own assortment of tuners, pedals, stands and related accessories. Plus I had to bring the CDs for our merchandise table, and remember to print out parking permits at the last second…

Did I mention it was pouring?

We arrived at the 3rd Street site and saw a positive sign: Scott Altizio and Tom Sweeney were hard at work, setting up gear. They’d procured two tents, similar to the ones the artists themselves were using to line Washington street, and they’d set one up on the stage and the other over the mixer. The rain slowed to a drizzle, and we were eventually able to power up the P.A. and even do a soundcheck. Anne and Leslie showed up, as did my sister from CT. They headed across the street to Panera, along with my wife and child, to keep dry while I hung out with the sound crew and waited for the rain to stop. Fortunately the hardware store across the street was open and I was able to buy a big floor-squeegee, a powerful tool for pushing standing water off of the stage.

The rain never really stopped entirely during the Music Together sets, but there were some intrepid Hoboken families present (two or three, anyway) and they seemed to enjoy themselves. One family of British origin even braved the inflatable slide, which at this point was a giant waterslide. It takes a lot more than drizzle to keep the Brits indoors.

I just want to take this opportunity to say that Anne and Leslie are extremely talented and a lot of fun to perform with. They both have a lot of stage presence and an amazing ability to harmonize. We wound up doing both of our sets in full, 12 songs each and no repeats except the Hello and Goodbye songs.

As MC, I was supposed to be keeping track of the time (in fact Scott had asked me to bring a clock so he wouldn’t have to) but I gotta tell you, there were at least three conflicting versions of the schedule floating around out there, and since I was either a member or guest of every band that was performing that day, I decided just to let things roll. So Music Together started late and ended late, but no big deal, as Erin Lee and Marci were up next… [continued]